SLI batteries such as are typically used in automotive, marine, recreational or other applications are heavy, cumbersome, and often must be placed in tight confines or remote locations in a vehicle or storage facility. The desirability of providing such batteries with attachable/detachable handles for facilitating carrying, placement and retrieval of such batteries has long been known and a variety of designs have been proposed. One such design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,625 issued Jun. 16, 1987. Such a handle has been used commercially and has been very effective for the normal carrying and handling of the batteries. However, an end of the handle is undesirably susceptible to detachment from the battery when the handle is pulled sideways (i.e., perpendicular to the end face of the battery) as may occur, for example, when pulling a battery out of a storage rack thereof.